A time capsule of the greatest financial mania in the history of mankind, told in real-time by regular folks and patriots. May future generations better understand the madness of crowds, and how power and money corrupt.

April 23, 2006

Gas prices aren't high enough to fix the ills that need to be fixed:1) Foolish US homeowners driving 100 miles a day round trip in their Surburbans2) Fools in power doing nothing to promote energy conservation3) Foolish city planners designing miles and miles of new highways, but no public transportation4) Fools who run GM building gas guzzling trucks, when Americans wanted energy-efficient cars5) Fools on Fox News who state that global warming doesn't exist6) A foolish compensation committe giving $400 million to ExxonMobile's fat fool7) Foolish voters putting two oil fools into the White House

But alas, high gas prices sure did get us one thing:A foolish war in the Mideast

And I do not think pulling Saddam out of a hole, and locking him up is foolish at all. By the way, I live in NYC, and it sure is nice not having subway bombings here. Maybe kicking ass is not so foolish.

Do you know what the biggest greenhouses gas is???? It's freaking water vapor!!!! It's responsable for about 80% of the greenhouse effect. Like it or not, but water and the oceans regulate the Earth's climate. It keeps the Earth from getting too hot or cold.

There are natural cycles. It was really hot with lots of CO2 when the dinosaurs were around, but there weren't any Slowburbans, Tawhores, or factories around. There was also a really cool period that followed, called the Ice Age where about half the Earth was covered in ice.

There's no doubt that there's some warming occuring. Geologically speaking, we're still coming out of the last ice age. Most of the warming that occurs is happening in the oceans and in urban areas. I not convinced that man is responsable for a significant portion of the warming that is occuring.

I'm not convinced that global warming would even be all that bad. It would create more deserts in some places and flood some places, but create more arable land in places like Canada and Russia. It would also make the Earth wetter by causing more evaporation from the oceans.

All this conversation here and simplistic argument about global warming reminds me of NASA report about Columbia accident.The report from NASA basically emphasises that "Oversimplification of technical information could mislead decision-making". www.eh.doe.gov/ll/sells/proceedings/proceedings0404/caib_em.pdf

Basically, one should not talk about rocket science (and other science in general including economic) without data, facts, ...

So you guys which make statements as "Do you know what the biggest greenhouses gas is???? " are just trying to simplify the problem and then make conclusion what ever you want. Unfortunately, the world is not simple: if that is true everybody would be rich.

Ok boyz and girlz - plz sit down - class is about to begin...oh wait what am I saying you fuckers who think GW/GD have always been around and that humans have nothing to do with our present situation NEVER WENT TO SCHOOL - so I will have to use words you understand - like YOU ARE FUCKING IDIOTS...now go out and get the Cliff Notes.

I could not believe what I was reading at the bottom of my TV screen yesterday. I was tuned in to Fox News and it read...$4.00 dollar gas and $ 100 dollar oil will not hurt the economy and the markets....What planet are these people from?Did anyone see the picture of the $2.00 head of lettuce in New York City in 1974?Gee , I wonder why that head of lettuce sat there in the produce section and rotted. And why was it so expensive? Hmmmmmm. Food for thought.Anyone read parade today in your Sunday paper?Real median income down 3% from '00 to '04The percentage of households earning $25,000 to $90,000 (roughly middle class) shrank 1.5 % since '00Last year , real average weekly earnings fell .04 %Savings rate is lowest in 73 years.Credit card debt is at $9,312.00 per household on AVG.Tuition is through the roof. Public college (in state) $12,127.00 A 25% jump since 2001. A private university $ 29,026And we won der why we are running out of Engineers and such. Hmmmmm.

Whether global warming is a natural or a man made problem ....."prove" to me that it is not an issue since it is well debated! You cannot argue that weather patterns and geographical areas are under a change!

I don't expect the mental midgets who watch fox news exclusively to understand this, since they didn't go to a good college either, but let's give it a shot:

Theory: a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena; "theories can incorporate facts and laws and tested hypotheses"; "true in fact and theory"

Keith, you sound like you didn't even finish your High School. "...ExxonMobile's fat fool" - he made 400M, and created a good company. Get youself educated and check how much oil Exxon really controls. It's not even the biggest oil company in the world. Why should I explain this to such an idiot like you?

Richard, we are not really fucked. A ton of Indians and Chines educated people are immigrating and they will run the cuntry. Fox News people will soon be melted with Mexican illegal immigrants. You know metling pot thing ...

Is Michael Chrochtown a scientist? I thought he wrote legal suspese bores?

I like it simple for I have a simple mind.

Mother nature knows what to do when humans start to shit on it. It never fails.

Kneel before the one you serve.

:)

We so get off on the power of humans. How long can a human being go without air? Yes, let's chop all the trees and make beautiful coffee tables where we display our Michael Chrochtown books that set us straight about our environment.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, R-Calif., celebrated Earth Day by issuing a global warming warning, extolling the virtues of fuel-efficient vehicles and blasting "outrageous" oil prices at the pumps in an exclusive interview on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."

"The science is in," the actor-turned-politician claimed. "The facts are there that we have created, man has, a self-inflicted wound that man has created through global warming."

Global warming was a "theory" 20 yrs ago. Each passing year provides more evidence as things accelerate.

Here is the most simple way to understand global warming: millions of years of carbon stored beneath the earth's surface have been extracted, burned, and subsequently released to the atmosphere over a period of 150 yrs. It throws everything out of whack.

Oil/natural gas/coal are all derived from carbon sources from millions of years ago. The carbon sources are literally the decayed remains of algae, plants, and animals from a different era. Until the mid 19th century, all this carbon was trapped thousands of feet below the earth's surface, and it did not impact the atmosphere. However, burning these decayed remains (oil) releases all that carbon into the atmosphere, throwing the whole process out of balance, causing an unnatural heating process. The carbon should stay underground.

It is unfortunate that out society is so dependant on buring fossil fuels. We are all guilty in some capacity, but we were born into it. It is just unfortunate that so much unnecessary excess exists. We can do better and we all know it. Sorry to let everyone know the truth.

True the Earth does go in cycles:hot, cold, hot cold, hot cold etc. However, man's stupidity as usual refuses to understand that we affect our environment in a negative way and what used to take centuries now takes decades and what used to take decades now takes years etc etc. If you have common sense can't we just trace patterns and see it's getting worse?

The earth has had warming and cooling cycles in the past-however..........

The burning of coal and oil is creating a 'greenhouse' affect by retaining those gases and rising the planets temperatures. Since the dawn of the 'Age of Reason' some 600 or more years ago- the 'Scientific Method' has been used to split the atom, put people in space, find cures for polio, and a plethora of other diseases. Science has been used to better our lives in so many ways- That 'Science' is now telling us that the planets climate is changing- and that human beings are likely responsible- what seems to be the problem with this ? Seems the number of 'uniformed people' is larger then I suspect- all I can say you all better pray for you and your childrens future- things are going to be a changin - and not for the better. And those changes are happening even quicker then I ever imagined.

I have to make a comment about "3) Foolish city planners designing miles and miles of new highways, but no public transportation". In reality, we are not designing new highways even! I was talking to a retired civil engineer recently, and he showed me one of the studies they had done for Chicago in the 1960's. In the study was a map they had created based on projections of driving patterns in the next few decades. They had filled in a bunch of sites for highways over the map. He pointed to the map and saw "What do you notice about the red lines that are dashed?". These were planned highways. Not a single one of the planned roadways was built. The solid red lines are still the current highways originally built in the 1950s. Our public transportation network mostly dates from before WWII.

What we are doing is building just more and more large public thorough fares with 5-minute stoplights, and maybe adding an occasional lane to the existing highways and tollways.

That's why I chose to live in the city. F*** the suburbs. Sprawl is the antithesis of urban planning. They didn't even follow the motor-vehicle powered urban design of the 1960's!!!! At least then we wouldn't have bumper-to-bumper traffic during rush-hour.

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